Matt Cockerill, the Managing Director of BioMed Central, is leaving the company at the end of the year.

Springer acquired BioMed Central in 2008, catching the publishing community unawares, and the STM publisher has expanded its open access activities greatly in the five years since the acquisition. Support from BioMed Central has been crucial in allowing Springer to rapidly develop a portfolio of SpringerOpen-branded open access journals. Open access is now at the heart of Springer's strategy, and with BioMed Central delivering an increasingly substantial fraction of the company’s growth, the time is right to fully integrate BioMed Central into Springer to ensure that the full potential of open access publishing at Springer can be achieved. In the new structure, BioMed Central’s Publishing Director, Deborah Kahn, and Commercial Director, Bev Acreman, will report directly into the corresponding parts of Springer’s global organization.

“This is a natural next step for BioMed Central,” said Matt Cockerill, “I am very proud of what the team at BioMed Central has achieved since we launched the first journals in 2000. BioMed Central’s continuing success has played a key role in demonstrating the viability of the open access publishing model. BioMed Central is now mature enough to operate successfully as an integrated part of Springer, and I look forward to pursuing further personal and professional interests knowing that the company is in good hands.”

“Going forward, BioMed Central’s mission will not change, nor will the brand, nor will the approach to authors. BioMed Central will continue to do what is best for open access and Springer owes a debt of gratitude to Matt, who has nurtured BioMed Central from infancy to the leading position it holds today. I would like to thank Matt personally not only for his outstanding achievements at BioMed Central, but also for continually challenging Springer Management and for encouraging creative thinking,” said Derk Haank, CEO of Springer Science+Business Media.

1. BioMed Central (http://www.biomedcentral.com/) is an STM (Science, Technology and Medicine) publisher which has pioneered the open access publishing model. All peer-reviewed research articles published by BioMed Central are made immediately and freely accessible online, and are licensed to allow redistribution and reuse. BioMed Central is part of Springer Science+Business Media, a leading global publisher in the STM sector. @BioMedCentral